Getting excited to start the new season in Adventure Guilds. My name is Stephen and I will be keeping up with our web site this season. Carlos has been doing a great job the last few years so the bar has been set high. See you all soon.
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New year
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Monster Truck Nationals, March 12, 2011
Totally wicked! My boys and I had a great time together. Something we will always remember. Thanks to the Hawks for organizing the event. – Stephen AdamitisIt was amazing. It is something you actually have to experience in live action at least once in your life. The shear size of these things. My son described it as an engine with monster tires dressed up to look like a truck. I was impressed how the drivers handled the trucks too – making the trucks fly off of the first car into a wheelie to make the biggest crushing landing on the following cars, bouncing around a couple of times and then stopping the truck before causing any damage to anything else on the arena floor.
And the Sears Center Arena isn’t all that big of a place especially with six monster trucks parked along the side of the floor. All of the trucks were impressive, but Big Foot and Heavy Hitter were the show men of the night. Both got huge air smashing the cars. Heavy Hitter made some tight donuts. And Big Foot put it on two wheels doing his donuts.Again, a huge thanks to the Matt Carlson and the Hawks for organizing this event. And thanks to Stephen Adamitis for the pictures and putting this video together.
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Winter Campout 2011 at Camp Eberhart
We could not have asked for a better start to a winter campout weekend. We had a nice warm spell to melt the majority of the snow dumped from the Blizzard of 2011. Heading to Three Rivers, Michigan, we had a sunny Friday in the upper 40′s. The two and a half hour drive to Camp Eberhart from Elk Grove Village was pretty pleasant once you got passed the traffic snarl of I-80 and I-65. And once you get off of the Indiana tollway, Camp Eberhart was just two hick towns into Michigan.
Arriving at Camp Eberhart, you are greeted by the horses mulling around in the field. There were a few buildings and cabins that spotted the property. I was lucky enough to follow the line of early arriving cars to learn where our weekend accommodation was. The cabin that the entire Expedition stayed in was unexpectedly modern and very clean. There was no smell of sulfur coming from the water from the bathroom faucets that I’m so accustomed to on these campouts. From the cabin, we had a excellent view of one of the lakes. The full moon over the frozen lake was a treat to see both nights we were there. The boys on the top floor made a quick mess of the place the first night with their marshmallow guns.
I do not have enough good things to say about Camp Eberhart’s staff. From the time we first arrived all the way through to our departure on Sunday, they were there to take care of us. Anything we asked for, they were very accommodating. We got a guided tour on Friday of the different buildings and all of the activities available to us that weekend. Riflery, archery, the climbing wall, horseback riding were a few of the activities the camp had for us that weekend. There were also some staff guided activities like shelter building and the low rope activities (has nothing to do with ropes; they were team building activities for the boys as well as the dads).
The Diamondbacks had the Deadliest Catch themed games on Saturday. Congratulations to the Phoenix for winning the games. Saturday night was highlighted by our Trailmaster’s creation for the bonfire. It was slow to catch fire but once going it was a nice relief of heat to cut the frigid night air.Thanks to Diamondbacks, specifically Mark Egan, for finding this great camp for our winter campout. And thanks again to our Naturalist, Gary Popek, for documenting this wonderful weekend with his photography skills. Check out the Image Gallery to see all of the pictures from the weekend.
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Boat Regatta, January 8, 2011
The Rough Riders do it again and receive the bragging rights for best boat of the 2011 boat regatta. Good job guys that viking boat was very creative!
Their boat was in close competition during the races with the Diamondbacks pontoon. The first race of the night had a close finish between the two with the Rough Riders cutting in front of the D-backs to get to the wall first. But the D-backs had the majority of races won that night because of the boat’s design – it didn’t need to be turned around and it didn’t need to be drained. The Phoenix and Hawks also held their own during the races. But sadly the Phoenix’s wide boat was the first to give way for the night.Good job to all of the boat builders. The regatta is always a fun time. Check out more pictures from the regatta in the Image Gallery.
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Indoor Rock Climbing, December 11, 2010
Attach the first clip to your harness. Pull down on the auto belay, attach the second clip to your harness. Look up and see a green light – you’re ready to go. Find the first couple of grips for your hands, find the ledges for your feet. You’re on your way up. Look for the next ledges for your feet. Move your feet and use your legs. Feel around for the next good grip with your right hand and then your left. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. You’re half way up. You struggle to find a good grip for your hands. Your fingers and forearms start to burn. Find a place where you can stand without having to grip so much. Your grip starts to weaken as the burn becomes more intense. You’re almost to the top. One more set of grips to find – leg, hand, leg, hand. Got to the top. Look down, let go and ease yourself down.It was a great outing at Vertical Endeavors in Warrenville last Saturday. The in
door rocking climbing was a pleasant relief from the cold and rain outside. We had a great turnout – thirty plus climbers and a handful of spectators. The kids did very well climbing the different walls with auto belays. The dads had equally as much fun climbing the walls. I saw a lot of dads and kids make it to the top several times and some very quickly. Our spectators were very helpful and always willing to help out the kids with the auto belays.
We also had two great instructors assist our group with the manual belays. The walls with the manual belays were even taller than those with the auto belays. I gave these walls a try along side our Trailmaster, Rick Sobon. I was surprised how quickly Rick was able to climb the wall and reach the top. I got three quarters of the way up but the struggled to find good grips to continue up. I sat at that level for a few minutes resting my hands and forearms but then the heat at that height started to get to me. My hands became more and more sweaty making it harder to get a good grip. Eventually, I couldn’t hold my grip any longer so I just let go and went down to let the next person have a try. I was pleased at my many attempts at the different walls and had some success getting to the top of most of them.Watching some of the regular/experienced climbers that were there was amazing. Some seemed to defy gravity hanging upside down on horizontal areas and others were just so quick to maneuver up the walls.
The outing was success thanks to everyone that participated and helped out. I heard several compliments from many of the dads about the outing, the venue, and the staff. It was great experience; something my son and I (and I’m sure others) would love to do again.
